A legendary Coronation Street star who grew up in Morecambe will leave the TV soap after 50 years.
Helen Worth MBE, who plays Gail Rodwell, will depart the popular long-running ITV series at the end of the year, it was announced on Wednesday.
The long-suffering and six-times married Gail has been one of Coronation Street's most popular characters since making her debut on-screen in 1974.
Real name Cathryn Helen Wigglesworth, Helen, her parents Alfred and Gladys, and brother Neville moved to Morecambe from Yorkshire when she was two years old.
She went to West End Primary School and the Mount Independent School in Bare, as well as dance schools in the town, and her parents had a shop in the West End and a hotel on the seafront.
Before achieving TV fame and moving away, Helen appeared in productions and dance competitions in Morecambe, including at the Winter Gardens and Palace theatres.
She later switched on the town's Illuminations, alongside Morecambe TV actress and comedian Dame Thora Hird, in 1991.
Here is Helen pictured during her earlier years in Coronation Street.
Helen, 73, will start filming her exit story next month and the emotional scenes will be on screen at the end of the year.
“This year felt like the perfect time to leave the show after celebrating 50 years in the most wonderful job on the most wonderful street in the world," she said.
"I made the decision at the start of the year and spoke to the producers who were very kind and understanding.
“I have been truly blessed to have been given the most incredible scripts week in week out, and to have worked with fantastic actors, directors and a brilliant crew.
“The past 50 years have flown by and I don't think the fact that I am leaving has quite sunk in yet.”
Iain Macleod, Coronation Street executive producer, said: “The words ‘legend’ and ‘icon’ get used a lot these days but they genuinely do apply to Gail and to Helen Worth. However, given her humility, I know Helen won’t thank me for saying so! In Helen’s hands, Gail has been a huge part of Coronation Street for five decades and at the centre of some of the most memorable storylines - often deriving from her catastrophically bad luck in choosing husbands!
“Her ill-fated marriage to Richard Hillman was one of the most ground-breaking stories in soap history and cemented Gail’s already established status as one of the Corrie greats. As the matriarch of the Platt clan, her affectionately prickly relationships with her kids and flighty mum Audrey epitomise what makes the show great: complicated family dynamics brought to life impeccably by Helen’s dramatic and comedic chops, alongside those of her fictional clan.
“Gail has given us countless hours of entertainment but it should also be said that Helen herself is a consummate professional and a thoroughly good egg. Everyone connected to the show will miss having her around the place just as much as the viewers will miss having her on their screens and we wish her all the very best for the future.”
Helen's extended on-screen family also have connections to Morecambe. On-screen mum Sue Nicholls (Audrey) donated a painting of Eric Morecambe to the town's library in 2006 and her on-screen son Jack P Shepherd (David) switched on the Morecambe Christmas lights in 2017.
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